Minxes are thrilled to welcome Harlequin Presents author Dani Collins to our spotlight today :) Dani is generously giving away a copy of her latest book An Heir to Bind Them to a blog reader so don't forget to leave a comment!
Dani
Collins’ first Harlequin Presents, Proof Of Their Sin, won this year’s Reviewer’s Choice by
Romantic Times Book Reviews for Best First In Series. This summer she has
five hot books from Harlequin, starting with An Heir To Bind Them in June. In
August, watch for The Ultimate Seduction, the second book in the Harlequin
Presents 21st Century Gentlemen’s Club mini-series. Also in August,
she debuts with HarlequinE with The Dani Collins Erotic Romance Collection
containing two titles: Playing The Master and Mastering Her Role. She also has
an online novella with The Chatsfield series, The Secret In Room 823.
1. Tell our readers a little bit about yourself
I tend to feel like the most boring person in the universe. I grew up in a small town outside of Vancouver, BC, married my high school sweetheart and we moved to a different small town when we had children. I’ve travelled some, but usually packaged stuff to civilized places. We’re the equivalent of middle American except in Canada. Sometimes I blame my bland existence for the 25 years it took to sell a book. No drama to draw from.
2. What number book is this? First? 100th? 200th?(Nora only!)
An Heir To Bind Them is my fifth published title with Harlequin. I have a romcom (Hustled To The Altar) that I indie published and a fantasy romance with a small press (The Healer.)
3. What inspired this book?
This book grew out of the story that was my First Sale, No Longer Forbidden? The hero in that book, Nic, told the heroine he had a half-sister and two brothers. I started wondering what had happened to them and wrote about their sister, Adara, in More Than A Convenient Marriage? This is Theo’s story and their youngest brother, Demitri, will have his story written later this year.
4. Who or what was the inspiration for your hero? [Pictures are welcomed!]
I don’t often use photos as inspiration. I’m personally in love with the iconic alpha male as depicted in Presents—tall, dark and handsome. Don Draper from Mad Men is a great example of my ideal. When I try to describe them, I consider their genetic background and figure out what skin tone they’re likely to have. I even had a blond hero, but even though I try to provide snapshots for the reader’s mind, I’m far more interested in my characters’ inner workings and spend a lot of time there. In terms of what inspires that side of things, it really does grow organically as I write the book.
5. Have you any burning ambitions to write a story in a different genre?
As mentioned above, I have dipped my toe into different romance genres. I have a pair of erotica romances coming out in August with HarlequinE (The Dani Collins Erotic Romance Collection). I’ve also written several different lengths which has kept me limber and learning new things. My journey to publication was a very long one. I took many detours along the way and have several manuscripts meant for different markets. I believe some can be rescued so I expect to appear in different genres of romance, but I am a die hard romance reader and writer. I don’t see myself making a big jump to horror or mystery or anything really different.
6. In what way is being a published writer different to how you thought it would be?
I treated writing like a job long before I published so there isn’t much that has surprised me. I’ve received more accolades than I expected (Reviewer’s Choice Award from RT Book Reviews, for instance.) That blew my mind after so many years of feeling like a failure. I expected a slow build and it’s turned into a meteoric rise. Some of that is planned. I am doing everything I can to finish books and get them published, but I really didn’t grasp how all that would feel. It’s great, but a lot more busy and demanding than I expected.
7. What was the most fun part of writing this book?
I loved pushing Theo out of his element with the babies. He comes to Jaya fed up that he can’t get a diaper on right. We’ve all been overwhelmed with childcare at some point and then cuddled a sleeping baby or been the recipient of a beaming smile and felt like a hero. I liked doing that to Theo.
8. Which of your characters would you most like to be?
That’s a really tough question because I tend to fall deepest in love with the ones who rise above the worst circumstances. Do I wish that on myself? No way! But do I want the sky-high standard of living my heroines enjoy at the hands of the hero? Um, YES.
9. Do you have a writing routine? Do you write every day, and is there a time of day that works best for you in terms of being productive?
I prefer to hit the computer first thing with coffee and still in my jammies. Lately I’ve been messing about on the internet for about an hour, which I’d like to scale back, but since quitting my ‘real’ job, I’ve been very good about getting real work done for a good six to nine hours with a walk in the middle of the day. Now, often this ‘work’ includes writing blog posts, organizing travel and planning promotions and related materials. I’d like to find a way to do less of that and more genuine writing, but this is the sort of demands I alluded to above that I didn’t realize were such a big part of being a professional author.
1
0. How long does it take you to complete a book?
Depends how long it is, what kind of story it is, and whether I work on it every day. I wrote the second erotic romance, around fifty-thousand words, last December. I worked full time until the middle of the month, then had twelve days off through the holidays. That was a really intense month and the manuscript needed quite a bit of revision. I wrote the Chatsfield novella basically over three long days and neither I nor my editor made any big changes. I was in the zone on that one, I guess. Contrast that to the fantasy romance which took years, but it’s an epic story with a ton of action and politics. The romcom was complex as I juggled several points of view and all the action takes place in one day, so I spent a lot of time figuring out the logistics. When I was working outside the home, I often gave myself a goal of a thousand words a day, which usually took about ninety minutes, Right now I’m planning to write over fifty thousand words by the end of June, basically my own Nano, and I don’t think that’s an unreasonable goal.
11. Do you have any tips, tricks or sacrificial rituals you do when you hit a story roadblock?
I often go back to the beginning and make sure I haven’t taken any wrong turns. Sometimes I find that I’ve had the character choose something that isn’t working, or I haven’t properly figured out why they chose that action. Long walks help, as does cleaning house. Sounds like punishment, but if I channel my frustration into dusting and scrubbing, at least I have a clean house when I’ve worked things out.
12. Are your family and real-life friends supportive? If so, in what ways? If not, do you have another support network for your writing?
I realized a long time ago that the writers whose husbands could afford to financially support them had a leg up. This allowed them to stay home and write and, as I observed it, they seemed to achieve publication sooner than I was able to. That wasn’t a luxury I had, but my husband has always pitched in with making supper or getting kids to practice so I can write. I dedicated my first book to a pair of friends I refer to as my kids’ Other Moms. We shared a lot of childcare over the years and it was a huge help in allowing me to make progress with my career. Among writers, one of my closest friends is Cathryn Parry. She’s incredibly positive and smart and always listens to me whine when publishing has hurt my feelings, then helps me put it in perspective and get back on the horse.
13. Where do you write?
Our house has an attic that was converted by previous owners into a playroom for their kids. It’s a perfect office so long as I don’t stand up too fast; the ceiling is slanted and I’ll hit my head. I sit at a computer desk older than my daughter (she’s leaving for second year university in the fall) and I sit on a ball.
14. Do you connect with your readers at all, and if so which is your favourite platform for reaching them?
I love hearing from readers and try to be accessible where they like to play. I’ll admit I’m fairly hopeless on Pinterest or Tumblr, but I go on Facebook and Twitter daily and glance at Goodreads fairly regularly.
Here are my links:
Website |
Facebook |
Twitter |
Goodreads
And, please
join my newsletter to be informed when a new book comes out.
An Heir to Bind Them
Off the boss's payroll…and into his bed
Jaya. Her name reverberates around Theo Makricosta's head in time to the whirring blades of his private helicopter. He must find her; only Jaya can help with the care of his infant niece and nephew…. It's not because he hasn't stopped thinking about the single night of mind-blowing passion he shared with the exotic beauty.
Jaya Powers couldn't refuse her gorgeous millionaire Greek boss when she worked for him, and she can't refuse him now! Only this time she has a secret. Their night together had consequences that will change Theo's perfectly ordered existence forever!
The Minxes have moved! Luckily it has been relatively stress free and incredibly cheap ;)
After the phenomenal success of High and Higher, now comes Spiral!! Put the date in your diaries - 24th June!!
Seven Nights. Seven Highs. 
Possessed by a Warrior
Can a mother in jeopardy melt the heart of a jaded vampire?
Huge congratulations to entry #269 Tamara S!!!
I live in the UK on the Derbyshire/Leicestershire border with my husband, 4 dogs, a vegetable patch that’s home to far too many weeds and an ever expanding library of books waiting to be read.
Being a freelance writer and editor of business publications is my ‘day job’ but, at every opportunity, I can usually be found scribbling down notes on scenes for whatever novel I’m working on. I love it when the characters in my novels take on minds of their own and start deviating from the original plot!
The recently released If You Only Knew is my third novel; my previous books The Love Programme, and How Do You Spell Love? were both published in 2013.
If you feel so inclined you can find out more about me and my books over on my blog, on Twitter via @ZannaMacKenzie or on Facebook.
Would it sound crazy if I said I don’t know? It was about two years ago that the idea for the book was ‘born’ so I can’t remember all the details now! Seriously, I think I had been watching a TV show The Adventurer’s Guide To Britain where the presenters visited areas of the UK and tried various extreme sports. I loved seeing the scenery and the people trying everything from abseiling and mountain biking to climbing cliffs and canyoning. I think that sparked the idea I’d like to write a novel with an extreme sports element to it. I loved Derbyshire and decided to set the book in the Peak District in a fictitious version of the area around Castleton. I adore coffee shops and so decided that the two main places in the book would be the coffee shop, owned and run by Faith, and the Carrdale Outdoor Extreme Sports Centre, co-owned and run by Zane. I’ve always been fascinated by the ‘first love comes back into your life’ scenario so I decided that would be the theme for this book. I wanted to complicate things even further for Zane and Faith though so I added some more bits and pieces to the plot! Matt was Faith’s first love; he’s now Zane’s business partner. Faith and Zane – both battered emotionally by the past – decide to throw caution to the wind, take the risk of getting involved and potentially getting hurt again, and begin dating. At this point, Zane knows nothing about Faith’s past with Matt and likewise, Faith doesn’t know who Zane’s business partner is. When Matt arrives in town a few weeks later, after trying to sort out the disaster of his own life in Austria (that’s a whole other aspect to the plot…) they all get a bit of a shock! All of the characters have their fears, secrets and worries; they make mistakes too, so things become decidedly complicated for Faith, Zane and Matt during the course of the book.
Our living space is open plan – the kitchen leads to the dining room/ office, which leads to sun room (a grand name for a porch facing the back garden!) and off this dining room/office is the lounge area. My desk is positioned right in the middle of all of this so it can be tricky getting some peace and quiet at times when I need to concentrate, especially as my husband is also self-employed and often works from home too. I love that I have a view of the back garden from the window next to my desk though– great when I’m in need of a spot of procrastination or inspiration!
For those of you lovely blog readers who don't know or don't remember me because I haven't blogged for A VERY LONG TIME!!!, I'm Minx Maya aka, Scatty Minx aka Newly Minted Full-Time Writer With The Attention Span Of A Gnat!! 
1. I LOVE NEW, SHINY THINGS.
Inspiration wise physically? Ooohh... yes, please! I never miss a chance to drool over hot men! Originally Alex was a cross between the actor Ryan Reynolds and David Boreanaz from the TV series Bones. More recently he's less Ryan and mainly David but with hints of Henry Cavill. What can I say... the man (HC) is beautiful!
